


Bad Together

by Dansnotavampire



Series: The Kepcobi Dua Lipa fic anthology [2]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: (Very big slice), But whats new there, Explicit Sexual Content, First Kiss, First Time, Implied Sexual Content, Kepler Doesn't do Feelings, M/M, Pining, Slice of Life, Sorta? As much as these two idiots can, Theyre bad at being in love, Torture, Trans Male Character, except when he does, trans Jacobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 01:00:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12494876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dansnotavampire/pseuds/Dansnotavampire
Summary: Warren Kepler first meets Daniel Jacobi in a dingy bar, on a fairly sub-standard afternoon. He then buys him some whiskey, gives him a phone number, and changes his life. In more ways than one





	Bad Together

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically the second one in the series, but they're not linked - all works in this series can be read independently of each other. It is based on the song Bad Together by Dua Lipa.
> 
> I also can't promise that the next fic will be up as quickly as this one was. The reason? I'm relistening to Wolf 359.

Warren Kepler first meets Daniel Jacobi in a dingy bar, on a fairly sub-standard afternoon. He then buys him some whiskey, gives him a phone number, and changes his life. In more ways than one.

Two weeks later, and Jacobi is dialling a number from a stranger in a bar - and he would be the first to tell you that he hasn't done that in a long while. Moments later, someone picks up his call, and answers in the tacky false cheer of a receptionist. Or a cashier that's been told to be nice or be fired, maybe. "Hello, you have reached the offices of Goddard Futuristics, how can I help?"

"Uhhh... Hi? I'm calling about a job opportuni-"

Receptionist lady cuts him off. "I'm afraid we don't have any job vacancies right now, Sir. Have a nice d-"

"My name's Daniel Jacobi. Someone sent me to you."

Her voice immediately changes to a cold, efficient tone that leaves no room for any kind of argument. "Ah, of course, Mr Jacobi. If you could be at the address we are emailing you by 0900 hours tomorrow, that would be brilliant, thank you."

"But you don't have-" Jacobi stutters out as the call clicked off, and his phone pings, alerting him to a new email from Goddard Futuristics.

"-my email. Huh."

The next day, Jacobi is being led through a winding mess of corridors by the woman who'd answered his phone call yesterday. She doesn't introduce herself, just commanded him to follow and nodded at occasional people she passed in the corridor. They finally come to a stop outside of an unmarked door.

"Just through here, Mr. Jacobi. Major Kepler is waiting for you."

And Jacobi walks into the room, and the man from the bar is there - only this time Jacobi is sober enough to notice more than just his cheekbones, his rich caramel voice, the broadness of his shoulders and the sharp angle of his jaw. This time, Jacobi looks at him and sees the cunning spark in his eyes, the cockiness in his smirk, the confidence in his posture. He sees a man who wouldn't look out of place in a throne room, Jacobi a faithful concubine laying at his feet, waiting on his every word. It's not an image that he minds.

_Know you're bad for me, but you know I am too_

_Me and you together like a loved up bruise_

_I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse_

He stands, swirling the whiskey in his glass. "Ah, Mr. Jacobi. How good it is to see you again. I trust you found your way to us okay? I'm Major Warren Kepler. Please, take a seat."

Jacobi briefly considers picking up the chair and walking out with it, but decides not to. Instead, he sits down.

"So, Mr. Jacobi," the man that he now knows is called Kepler asks, "Why did you come here today?"

'Because you seemed like you wanted me to' some small part of his brain that longs for approval and thrives on loyalty supplies.

"Because I need a job, and you're offering." He says.

Kepler quirks a disbelieving eyebrow, a small huff of laughter escaping his lips. "And is that the only reason, Mr. Jacobi?"

And Jacobi comes so close to spilling his heart right there, Keplers deep eyes and carefully crafted smirk and the pervasive smell of whiskey and his musky cologne making Jacobi go weak at the knees in a way that means he would have fallen if he wasn't stood up. He comes so close to saying that Kepler is improbably beautiful, that he's intoxicating, and that Jacobi feels like he would walk to the edges of the earth for this man's approval. That he'd possibly go further.

He doesn't say all of that, just says "No. That's not the only reason."

Kepler doesn't press, and for some unknown reason, Jacobi trusts him for it.

Kepler speaks again. "I am very interested in having you work for us, Mr. Jacobi, but if you are only here because you need the money, then maybe you want to reconsider. Goddard Futuristics is not a place for half-assing commitments."

"Sir, I worked in the military for years. I know how to commit to things."

And Kepler hears the unspoken 'and people', and he catches the desire to commit to _him_ that Jacobi hides in his tone, and he smiles, and extends a hand. "In that case, Mr. Jacobi," he says, then pauses to sip his whiskey, "I would be delighted to extend the offer of a job to you."

And Jacobi shakes his hand, and replies, "Sir, I would be delighted to accept."

_Baby, you're okay,_

_Baby you're okay_

He's been working with Kepler for almost eight months by the first time that they kiss, when Jacobi is high on adrenaline and the feeling of Kepler's fingers wrapped around his wrist, and Maxwell is telling them through the comms that they have five minutes to get out of there at most, but Jacobi just diffused an unknown bomb with twelve seconds to spare and Kepler told him that he was brilliant as they ran from yet another secret base so Jacobi doesn't care that they're on a tight schedule, he just grabs Kepler by his security guard uniform and tugs him down into a searing, bruising, _burning_ kiss. Kepler's mouth tastes like the Balvenie he loves so much, and Jacobi can smell the musk of his cologne and the sharp scent of gunpowder on him, feel the heat of his body against his skin.

And then Kepler puts his hands on Jacobi's waist and tugs him flush to his body, and kisses him back, and it's absolutely perfect. They pull apart when Maxwell yells down the comms at them to 'save it for when you don't have cameras attached to you and aren't in danger of being killed, idiots.'

They make it back to Maxwell, then to Goddard for a debriefing, and then after Kepler finishes taking out some details of the mission with Marcus Cutter, he offers Jacobi a lift back to the apartment block that they live in out of Goddard's pocket. Kepler invites him in for a drink, and they sit on his oversized leather couch and watch crappy film reruns until the early hours, and Kepler never breaks the professional mask that he's had on since the debriefing and his talk with Cutter, and they don't talk about the kiss.

Jacobi begins to wonder if he made a mistake - because he knows that Kepler kissed him back, remembers those broad hands wrapping around his waist, the soft bite of those perfect white teeth against his lips, the whiskey and honeysuckle flavour of Kepler's mouth, but Kepler has barely looked at him since his talk with Cutter, and the thought of Kepler being punished for Jacobi being and impulsive is enough to make his tired, drunk self want to vomit.

It's not as bad as the thought that Kepler simply doesn't want him, though.

The second time they kiss, it's Kepler who makes the first move. They've just blown up some... building, of one sort or another. It doesn't matter. What matters is that they're sat together on a high desert dune when Maxwell locks the doors on this facility, and Daniel can hear the panicked screams of its inhabitants as the countdown starts, and while just a year ago he'd have been slightly horrified at the thought of killing so many people, now he just smiles like a demon as he watches fire and destruction rip through the building. What matters is that he calls himself a monster as he watches these people die with a manic grin on his face, the light of the explosions reflected in his eyes, and then Warren Kepler pulls him in and kisses him under thousands of desert stars.

And what matters is that when they pull apart, Kepler leans his forehead against Jacobi's, and whispers, "Yeah. Monsters. That's what we are."

_No, you won't, won't go breaking my heart_

_You've seen that we got the same pain, same scar_

_Felt that when we got closer in the dark_

_Baby, I'm okay_

The first time they fuck, it's the night before Kepler leaves on a mission. Without Jacobi.

"You don't need a demolition expert." Cutter tells him when he protests having to leave Jacobi behind, and it doesn't matter that they're taking Alana Maxwell into the field when she barely knows how to be a person, and it doesn't matter that Kepler and Jacobi are some of the best in-field partners that Goddard has seen in years, and it doesn't matter when Warren looks Marcus in the eye and says _"Please."_

Cutter tells him, in that sickly sweet tone of voice he uses that "It'll be okay, this mission's kind of dangerous, isn't it Warren, dear, you wouldn't want your precious Daniel getting _hurt,_ would you?" And Kepler hates it, hates the implication that he cares more about some of his crew members than others; hates the implication that he cares at all. (Even if he knows it's true.)

Cutter laughs at the look on his face, and tells him, cold-voiced, cold-eyed, somehow more terrifying than the inhuman happiness he normally speaks with, to "Think of it has your punishment for getting attached, Major. Maybe that'll stop you next time. You're dismissed."

And Kepler can't do anything about It, so he salutes him, stony faced, stiff-limbed, before turning on the heel of his (pristine, perfect) boot and marching out. He goes back to his apartment (which isn't his home, because it's empty, and the concept of home doesn't really exist for him, but if it did it would be a person, not a place. He's going to strategically ignore that thought, though.)

He changes out of his uniform and goes to the gym, where he spars with some unknown person until all he knows is the feel of fists hitting skin and all he can think of is how badly he's going to ache tomorrow. Then, he goes back to his apartment and showers, and he doesn't think of what Jacobi's face will look like when he tells him he has to leave, and he doesn't think about how he won't see him for weeks, and he doesn't think about how Cutter found out even when they thought that they were being secretive. Even when this... thing they have doesn't have a name, doesn't make sense, barely even exists.

He doesn't think about how much he cares.

After his shower, he checks that he has ice in the freezer, gets a bottle of scotch from the liquor cabinet, and invites Jacobi over.

It's less than fifteen minutes later when Jacobi turns up, hair slightly disevelled, face slightly flushed. "Sir? You okay?" He asks the moment Kepler lets him in, and he actually sounds concerned, like he actually cares about why Kepler's voice was so tight on the phone, why he stayed sat instead of getting up to let Jacobi in like he normally would.

"I leave for a mission tomorrow. Cutter won't let me take you." He replies, tone flat and emotionless.

"Oh." says Daniel, and then Jacobi asks "Why?" as Warren Kepler pours him a glass of whiskey and drops some ice in it. He knows in his heart of hearts that it's because they've gotten too close, that they care too much (but they don't love each other, because they are monsters and monsters don't love anything except the trigger under their finger or the handle of a knife in their grasp. Because monsters certainly don't love other monsters.)

And Warren knows that he knows why, and he knows that it doesn't make sense, so he just says "Because he's Marcus Cutter." And he finishes his whiskey and Daniel is right there next to him, warm and firm and everything he kinda wants but also everything he knows he shouldn't be having. He reaches over and kisses him anyway, though.

Daniel's lips taste of the strawberry chapstick he loves so much, and they're slightly dry and when Warren bites his bottom lip he moans, the sound so soft that the microphones they know are hidden in the apartment can't pick it up. Warren's fingers make light work of his shirt buttons, and Daniel only flinches a little when Warren traces his thumbs over the twin scars that run across his chest, and then he's bending his head to kiss them and Jacobi's maybe finally found someone who will actually accept him as he is, monster and freak and mistake (and all the other words that have been thrown at him like knives) that he is.

Warren's kiss moves further down the line of his body as his broad hands strip Daniel's shirt off, and he mumbles "Beautiful," into the soft skin of his stomach and Daniel feels like he's burning up. He loves it. And he loves it even more when, ten minutes later, he's naked on Kepler's bed with Warren's head between his legs, bruises bitten across his chest and down his thighs, his hands tangled in Warren's hair as he licks his way into him, flicking his tongue against his clit. Daniel comes moments later with a strangled moan, his grip on Warren's hair so tight as to be painful. He sits up, ready to return the favour, but Warren stands and walks over to the dressing table, and there's no way that he got off on eating Daniel out alone, is there?

Then Warren comes back into view with a condom in hand and Daniel is still so damn sensitive, but Warren's hands are broad and strong; his chest is muscular and firm against Daniel's body and his skin bruises so easily when Daniel bites it, the dark marks on his skin mirroring the ones on Daniel's own, each one a personal 'fuck you' to Marcus Cutter and his futile attempts to push them apart. Daniel ends up staying the night, falling asleep in a warm bed with Warren Kepler's arm loose across him, not so much an embrace as it is a simple way of saying that Daniel Jacobi is his, and his alone.

But Kepler's alarm still goes off in the morning, and he gets up, grabs his bags, offers Jacobi a lift to Goddard HQ, and leaves to fly halfway round the world.

_Baby, when, when you're far away I promise you_ _I'll be good_

_I guess we're misunderstood_

_So baby, please, don't hear what people say_

_'Cause I've heard things 'bout you too_

_Makes me know that I'm for you_

Jacobi doesn't know what to do with himself while Kepler isn't with him - so he creates. He creates things that exist only to destroy - bombs, guns, weapons of all sorts. Time passes in a way that he doesn't understand, because suddenly it's been two weeks since Kepler left and he's gone out of the labs maybe twice and he can't remember the last time he ate.

He still hasn't heard from Maxwell or Kepler, either. And Cutter won't tell him anything, so he works. And he builds a reputation - for creating weapons, for creating new ways to kill people, for making things that break other things.

He doesn't tell anyone why he's still there when Kepler and Maxwell are gone, though. He lets people spread their own rumours, ones that he knows Kepler will hear when he gets back. If Kepler gets back.

Because soon enough it's been five weeks out of a two week mission and Cutter won't tell him anything, won't send him out to them, and Jacobi knows he's being punished and that Cutter thinks they're expendable but it still isn't fair. He still deserves to know.

But then it's eight weeks later and he's in Kepler's apartment and the sheets smell like whiskey and honeysuckle and they somehow still smell like sex and Jacobi misses Kepler like a hand, and if you wanted a few hours then Daniel would be missing Warren just as much, but instead, Daniel Jacobi falls asleep. He wakes up a few hours later to the sound of someone pacing around the kitchen, and he's immediately on high alert because there's one key to that apartment and it's on the bedside table where he put it last night. He grabs the gun from under his pillow, slips out of bed, and pads barefoot into the kitchen. He peeks his head round the door frame, and there he sees Warren Kepler, soft dawn light dancing through the window and across his skin, painting him gold. Jacobi lets out a soft gasp, the gun in his hand clattering to the floor. Kepler turns to face him. "Oh, Mr. Jacobi." he says, "I wasn't expecting to see you here." He smiles an easy, fluid smile and Jacobi's heart skips a treacherous beat.

"Where have you been? You're six weeks - _six weeks -_ late! What happened? Is Maxwell okay?"

"We're fine, Jacobi. Just some minor complications." Kepler tells him, and he doesn't tell him that Cutter knows what happened the night before he left, that the mission was planned for seven weeks, not two, and Cutter was just testing to see how they'd do when worrying about the other. Kepler passed. He doesn't know if Jacobi did.

He's about to tell Jacobi that he did get a promotion, and that he's getting his own team and that Jacobi's on it, if he wants, when Jacobi - no, when _Daniel -_ kisses him, and they're doing a really good job at this 'Monsters don't love' thing, aren't they?

Still. Daniel's fine with loving a monster. And Warren's fine with being loved by one.

_Oh, no, I don't care what's been done here before me_

_I don't give a damn, just as long as you care_

_'Cause, baby, I've been bad, but the heavens forgave me_

_You don't need to ask 'cause I'm already there_

Warren wakes up next to Daniel the next morning, and tells him about the promotion as he traces his fingers over the red welts that he carved into Daniel's back last night. Kepler offers Jacobi a place on the team, and he pretends to consider the offer before graciously accepting, as if there was any chance of him saying no to the chance to fuck shit up on the orders of Major - no, not Major, _Colonel -_ Warren Kepler _._

And with Alana Maxwell by their side as well? They're practically unstoppable.

_Let's be bad together, baby, you and I_

_Let's be bad together, if only for a while_

_Let's be bad together, make the devil smile_

_Let's be bad together, let's be bad together, ooh yeah_

It's then a few months after Kepler returned, after his promotion, after Jacobi got a new job, and Cutter is finally off their backs. The fact that SI5 is the most successful team of operatives that Goddard has had in recent history probably helps. The fact that Cutter knows that Daniel Jacobi and Warren Kepler aren't really anything except for colleagues might be another factor.

The fact that Jacobi and Kepler can't tell the nature of their relationship, however, is certainly a problem. Because, while it might be love, it's only the type of love that monsters share. It's a mixture of fucked up loyalty and miscommunication, and their arrangement is exclusive but it's still not a proper relationship, it's still not normal, but it's so perfect and it's so _them._ Jacobi revels in it, revels in the nights where Kepler whispers sweet nothings into his skin while he fucks him so hard he can't walk the next day, the times when its just after a mission and they're high on adrenaline and the feeling of having just ended people's lives and Kepler's body is pressing him into a mattress, or against a wall, and he feels so damn alive that he could explode.

Maxwell calls them sick for enjoying their jobs like that, but it's a joke, and she's as happy for them as she can be for anyone or anything that isn't a robot; while they're not together, and while they don't know how to have relationships, they are happy.

_Nothing can stop us, we got it all_

_The love, the passion, but most of all_

_We mess up, but run from the scene_

_But I throw my hands up, if you know what I mean_

_'Cause I'm not afraid to tell you when you're wrong_

_And I know that you miss me when I'm gone_

_We make a great team_

_With you, I'm better than I've ever been_

The first (and last) mission that they fuck up comes almost a year after the start of their operation. When Cutter gives it to them, it seems simple, almost too simple. Which really should've been a warning sign; nothing is simple when Marcus Cutter is involved.

It was just an easy extraction mission - get in the building, get Maxwell access to the computer systems, and blow the building up when she had the information. Sure, they don't have as much information on the building as they would like, but it'll be fine. They've been looking for a challenge.

They've been in this building for approximately four hours when Jacobi realises that maybe they shouldn't have been. Jacobi's keeping watch from the door whilst Kepler plugs something into a server, but it's the fifth time they've had to do this today and honestly who needs this many servers? Jacobi's half tempted to fire off a few gunshots just to give Kepler a fright when there's a hand clamped over his face and a knife at his throat. He feels more than hears the whispered warning to not make a fucking sound else he'll be put through more pain than he can imagine, but he doubts that such an amount even exists - he does work for Goddard Futuristics, after all. Still. He keeps his mouth shut, and hopes that Kepler realises he's gone.

Kepler does realise that Jacobi's gone. He then asks Maxwell over the comms where the other servers are - they only have two left, according to her. And when we ask about Jacobi, he tells her that he's fine, his comms unit his got damaged. And she doesn't believe him, but she's not going to tell him that. Kepler has his reasons for lying, she's sure.

Jacobi's comms unit still works, at least on the receiving end, he discovers as he's being strapped into a chair by some creep in a mask. He hears Kepler's molten glass tones crackling through the earpiece, hears him lying to Alana and he knows he's got to have a reason for saying Jacobi's with him, and he knows that the mission is more important than he is, but he's still kinda pissed. He thought Kepler would at least care enough to tell her that he was gone. He's going to have words with Kepler when he sees him again. (And he will see Kepler again because while he cares about the mission more, he still cares about Daniel Jacobi a little bit, doesn't he? )

Jacobi is in that room for what feels like days but is definitely only hours, being questioned again and again by these mysterious masked men. It's always the same questions - who are you, who do you work for, what do you want here, from us. Jacobi doesn't answer, despite the punches, the knives, the guns waved in his face. Kepler would be proud of his performance, he thinks - he _hopes._ Proud that he doesn't move, doesn't flinch, doesn't even open his mouth till it's forced. Proud that the secrets of Goddard Futuristics stay sealed away in his mind.

If you were to ask Warren Kepler how he was for the part of the mission when he wasn't sure where Daniel Jacobi - his right hand man, his second in command, the man who answers to him and only him - was, he'd tell you that he was fine, calm ad collected, everything that a man in charge should be. Alana Maxwell would then tell you that was bullshit, and that the moment Kepler got into the final server he told her to start tracking Jacobi. Alana would also tell you that she didn't tell Kepler that she'd known he was lying, but that would be wrong.

It takes them exactly twelve minutes and seventeen seconds to find the room that Jacobi's in, and it takes Kepler another eight seconds to bust in the door and shoot Jacobi's three captors. Jacobi registers the commotion dimly, in the back of his brain, but mostly what he focusses on his light streaming into the dark room through the open door behind Kepler and how it makes him a golden edged silhouette, an avenging angel against a backdrop of artificial sun.

Kepler kneels down next to Jacobi, and he knows he's misheard something because Jacobi just muttered something about angels and - well. Angel is about as far from a good descriptor for Warren Kepler as it's possible to get. Still, it doesn't really matter because Jacobi grins the same lazy, intoxicating grin that he always does, blood dripping from his nose, a bruise blooming on the side of his jaw, and mutters, voice croaking "Took you long enough." And really; would you expect Kepler to do anything _other_  than kiss him? And the kiss gets more heated and then Kepler's mouth moves further down Jacobi's torso, and it doesn't matter that he's covered in blood or that there're three dead bodies in the room because when Jacobi tells Kepler that he didn't tell his captors anything he croons " Good boy" into his flesh and Jacobi swears he didn't used to thrive on people's praise like this, that him from a few years back wouldn't have melted at a few positive words.

Him from a few years back wouldn't have let his superior officer eat him out in the middle of a mission, either, though. Goddard must have changed him more than he thought. (He's really not complaining)

_Baby, when, when you're far away I promise you I'll be good_

_I guess we're misunderstood_

_So baby, please, don't hear what people say_

_'Cause I've heard things 'bout you too_

_Makes me know that I'm for you_

It's maybe three years after the formation of SI5 when they get assigned the Hephaestus mission. Kepler tells Jacobi about it they're getting dressed in his office, Daniel's legs still quivering slightly, the red marks left by Warren's fingernails still smarting on his back. "Cutter's given us a mission." he says, his tone unusually stiff.

"Oh?" replies Jacobi, a little unsure; Kepler's normally thrilled at the thought of a new mission, some new pain to cause for some poor unsuspecting person.

"Yeah," says Kepler "you know the Hephaestus station?"

"Oh." says Jacobi because he's heard about the Hephaestus station, the one that orbits the star of Wolf 359. The one that's interesting for only two reasons: it's the furthest humans have ever travelled into space, and in the twenty-odd years it's been up there, no one has ever returned from it.

Kepler - no actually, not Kepler;  _Warren -_ inhales deeply, and says "You don't have to come, if you don't want." and what's weird is that he doesn't say it with a challenge, there's no taunt in his voice goading Jacobi to say yes, to go just to prove that he can.

He genuinely cares - and that terrifies Jacobi almost as much as it does Kepler, because monsters like them shouldn't be capable of caring, of _loving,_ even if they are only loving other monsters. (And, in the tiny piece of human heart Kepler has left, he remembers his father standing, stony faced, at his mother's funeral, privately whispering that love makes you weak, and that it makes you even weaker when it leaves you. And he hates the thought of being weak.)

Daniel looks at him like he's just suggested that they quit Goddard altogether and go to work in child psychology. "Of course I'm going with you, Sir," he says, and he's kind of astounded that there's any point in at timeline where Warren Kepler has to ask Daniel Jacobi to do something for him, because isn't his devotion obvious enough? Kepler looks momentarily relieved, or as relieved as someone being sent to a place people go to die can, before the cocky, self assured mask slips back on.

"Well then," he says "I'll tell Cutter that we'll be ready to leave by tomorrow." He pauses to flash a lazy, over-confident grin on Jacobi's direction. "We've got a little hell to raise."

_Oh, no, I don't care what's been done here before me_

_I don't give a damn, just as long as you care_

_'Cause, baby, I've been bad, but the heavens forgave me_

_You don't need to ask 'cause I'm already there_

_Let's be bad together, baby, you and I_

_Let's be bad together, if only for a while_

_Let's be bad together, make the devil smile_

_Let's be bad together, let's be bad together, ooh yeah_

And Jacobi smiles the same easy, confident smirk back at him and says "Yes, Sir," - because if anyone can take them to the place where people are sent to die and bring them back in one piece, then it's Colonel Warren Kepler.

"Let's go be bad."

**Author's Note:**

> Remember kids, ya boi survives on comments and feedback


End file.
